Cowgirls down NSU in overtime

LAKE CHARLES-- It took five extra minutes and McNeese Women’s basketball team outscored defeat Northwestern State 13-9 in the overtime period in its 78-74 Southland Conference overtime victory here Saturday.

“I’m really proud of our effort and for toughing it out. Basketball is a game of runs. I thought we played through their runs and we also had some runs,” said head coach Brooks Donald Williams. “Perez is so good and she led them through some of their runs but we played through them.”

Jayln Johnson led McNeese with 23 points and the league’s top free throw shooter was 9-10 from the charity stripe. Johnson also moved into sole possession of second in McNeese career assists. She ended the game with eight.

The Cowgirls also got double figure scoring from Victoria Rachal who ended the game with a season high 17. Rachal scored 11 of her 17 in the first half. Allison Baggett pitched in 15 points. For the third straight game, Frederica Haywood has picked up 10 or more rebounds. She grabbed a game high 13 with 10 coming on the defensive end.

McNeese (12-7, 4-3 SLC) overcame a 9-0 Northwestern State (11-8, 5-3 SLC) run to begin the third quarter after both teams played to a 30-30 halftime tie.

It was a battle on both sides with each team going on runs throughout the contest. After NW State took a 39-30 lead in the first three minutes of the third quarter, McNeese put together its own run (9-0) and tied the game at 39 all. The Lady Demons made another run to take a 48-41 lead behind a three-pointer from Janelle Perez and a jumper by Beatrice Attura. McNeese’s Cynthia Rivas scored on a jumper late in the third but the Cowgirls trailed 48-43 after three quarters.

Northwestern State scored the first four points of the fourth quarter to take a 52-43 lead and held as much as an eight point lead (57-49) with 6:13 left in regulation. That’s when Natchitoches, Louisiana native Rachal took matters into her own hands. Rachal would go on to score the Cowgirls next five points off a jumper and three-pointer to cut the lead to 57-54.

After a NW State layup, McNeese outscored the Lady Demons 7-4 on layups by Heywood and Johnson to cut the lead to three. McNeese tied the game at 61 all on a three-pointer by Amber Donnes with 2:42 left. Perez put NW State up by two but Johnson responded with a 3-pointer to give the Cowgirl a one-point lead with :58 second to play.

After NW State missed a three, Rachal grabbed the rebound and then Johnson was fouled with :18 to play. Johnson made one of two free throws to give McNeese a 65-63 lead. NW State’s Cheyenne Brown grabbed an offensive rebound and scored off a missed jumper by Perez with five seconds to play, sending the game into overtime at 65 all.

Johnson showed her senior leadership in the overtime period as she took the Cowgirls under her wing and scored eight of McNeese’s 13 fourth quarter points. Rachal gave the Cowgirls a boost as well by scoring three points and coming up with a big offensive rebound with the Cowgirls leading by three points midway through the quarter.